The impact of socio-economic disadvantage on the education outcomes of children and young people is one of the biggest challenges facing society. In 2023, 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty, almost a third of all children. Services across many different sectors are responding to an acute need. Just one example of this is data that shows a fifth of UK schools have set up a food bank for families since March 2020.
It's crucial that we redouble efforts to tackle the corrosive long-term impact of disadvantage on children. In England, the “disadvantage gap” starts early and persists. The latest data from the Department for Education shows that reception-aged children eligible for free school meals were 20 percentage points less likely to be at a good level of development than their peers. At the same time, GCSE students eligible for free school meals were 27 percentage points less likely to achieve good passes in English and maths. The gap is wider still for children who have lived in poverty for longer.
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